Es Lo Que Hay

Looking out — Looking in, Menorca, July 2018 — Photograph by Ben Weinberg

So past the point of lessons learned
so past the point of no return.

So spent all second chances
redemption now caught only in backward glances.

Espera wait,
espera hope,
esperenza up in bitter smoke.

A legacy of loss
writ so deep and wide into the land,
echoed in each shifting grain of sand,
whispered in the rush of waves upon the shore.

Forlorn, wind tossed, lost upon the barren hills,
we’re sorry now,
now, we’re sorry,
lo siento.

That’s the way it is, my baby,
Es lo que hay, my child.